The Dalliance Contest
by karyshamy
Summary: Will Sheldon and Amy be able to overcome jealousy in their relationship? One-shot.


Sheldon walked through the halls of Caltech, carrying a bag of food. He wanted to surprise Amy bringing her lunch and eating together at her lab. During the last two weeks they hadn't seen each other as much as they used to, because Amy had been really busy with her research. She was even allowed to hire a new assistant to help her, and she had worked late most of the days. It was just the opposite for Sheldon. He had lots of spare time now that the school was on vacations for the Holidays, so he caught himself thinking a lot about her lately. That day was not different: Leonard dropped him early at work, and he stared at his board for hours, not being able to accomplish a single formula. He knew he had lots of work to do if he wanted to advance quicker in Dark Matter, but Amy's absence was not helpful. So he decided to remedy the situation: he was going to show up at her lab without previous notice. He called the canteen and ordered their lunch. He closed his office and headed to pick the food up, and happily walked through the halls towards her lab. When he looked through the glass at her door he was confused. Who was that man sitting on Amy's chair?

He knocked three times, and the man answered the door. "May I help you, sir?"

"Yes, please, could you inform where I can find Dr. Fowler?"

"She's across the hall in the archive, may I help you?"

"Well, let me introduce myself, I'm _her boyfriend_, Dr. Sheldon Cooper."

"Oh, pleased to meet you, Dr. Cooper! I'm Taylor, Dr. Fowler's assistant."

_'Taylor is a man?'_ Sheldon thought! He could never guess that, he thought that Amy had hired a female assistant, not a man! Sheldon frowned, staring at the hand Taylor offered him to shake. He decided to ignore it, and excused himself, heading to the archive room.

The door was open, so he just let himself in, finding Amy sitting at a desk in front of a pile of papers. She noticed someone arriving and found her boyfriend staring at her with an angry look.

"Sheldon! What a good surprise! Is everything ok?"

When he heard her voice he softened, holding her close and giving her a quick peck on her lips.

"Yes, everything is fine. I've just met your... _assistant_."

"Oh, I guess Taylor told you I was here."

"Exactly. I brought lunch, I thought I could use it as an excuse to come and see you..."

"Oh, Sheldon! I'm starving, thank you very much! But I can't have a long lunch break, I'm in the middle of an analysis, is that ok for you?"

"Sure, I just wanted to see you... I missed you."

"I missed you too! Do you mind if we eat here?"

"No, not at all!" He placed the bag on the desk, taking out the packages and started distributing their food. "I know you're busy, so I bought each of us sandwiches and juice, is that fine?"

"That sounds great!" She eagerly removed the paper wrap from her sandwich and gave it a big bite. They started eating together, Sheldon even bit a piece of her sandwich, and they were chatting to catch up the last few days, when they heard a knock on the door.

"Excuse me Dr. Fowler, sorry for interrupting your lunch..."

"That's ok, Taylor, do you need anything?"

"It's just that I... I accidentally... mixed the contents of... two test-tubes and I'm afraid that..." Amy saw that the guy was shaking, and he needed her help.

"Don't worry, Taylor, let me go there and check, I'm sure it was not a problem." She turned to Sheldon, who was a little disappointed by missing lunch time with her. "Sheldon, I'll be right back."

After 10 minutes Amy returned to the room and sat next to Sheldon again. "I'm sorry for leaving you here."

"Hmm.. No problem, is everything ok?"

"Oh, yeah, we just found out that he used a test-tube that was not dry and had a bit of water in it, and as it wouldn't mix with the other substance he thought he did something wrong."

"What is he, a grad student?"

"He's starting his master's degree, but he's a very insecure guy..."

"I see... Amy, why didn't you tell me you hired a man?"

"Sheldon! Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! I don't want you spending a whole day at work with another man!"

"Excuse me? So you hired Alex and it's ok that she is a woman, but I can't hire an assistant who is a man?"

"Err..." Sheldon couldn't argue with Amy's logic, but deep down he was really uncomfortable for having a man around her. "Amy... I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"Ok, let's forget about that and eat." She continued to eat her lunch, still mad at Sheldon.

He had already finished his sandwich and drank his juice quietly. He didn't know why he reacted that way... Of course he trusted Amy, it's just that he didn't trust that man.

After they finished eating, Sheldon helped her to clean up the mess. Amy grabbed the bag and walked to the recycle bin and discarded the contents, when she felt Sheldon's hand on her waist. She turned around and met his blue eyes, which were slowly coming closer to hers.

"Amy, I'm sorry I overreacted. I just want you to be safe."

"Ok." She answered, their lips almost touching.

"I love you, Amy."

"I love you too, Sh-" She didn't even have time to finish her sentence, his lips crashed into hers, and they shared a long wanted passionate kiss. She felt Sheldon sucking her lower lip, and repeated the action in his, their hands bringing each other closer.

"Dr. Fowler, I finished the... Oh, sorry for interrupting."

Sheldon groaned, breaking their contact. "Don't you know how to knock, mister?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Cooper, but the door was open and-"

"Sheldon, stop it! Don't worry, Taylor, you did nothing wrong. I'll be right back, just give me a minute, ok?"

As soon as the man turned around and returned to the lab, Amy pinched Sheldon in the arm.

"Sheldon! That was very rude of you!"

"Ouch! That hurts!"

"That's for you to learn how to be nice to people!"

"What are you talking about, I'm a delight!" He looked at her angry eyes and quickly retreated. "Sorry, Amy, I just wanted a moment alone with you... Without being interrupted!"

"Ok, ok, I can't be mad at you anyway." She gave him a quick peck.

"Just a peck? That's so unfair..." She grabbed him by his waist and kissed him deeper. After a few seconds, she broke the kiss.

"Hmm... That was better." He smiled at her, and picked up his messenger bag. "I'll leave you now, when do I see you again?"

"I don't know, Sheldon, as soon as things here get better I'll let you know."

"Alright... Have a nice day, Dr. Fowler." He kissed her cheek.

"You too, Dr. Cooper."

Sheldon walked back to his office, and when he passed in front of the lab, the door was open and he heard Taylor calling him again.

"Dr. Cooper! I'm really sorry!"

"Nevermind." He answered quickly, barely stopping on his way. He really didn't like that guy.

* * *

The next evening it would be date night, but Amy was working late again. He decided to Skype her quickly, just to wish her a good night.

"Hello, Amy."

"Hi, Sheldon!"

"Hello, Dr. Cooper!" Taylor waved on the back, walking to the other side of the lab, out of Sheldon's sight. "Dr. Fowler, I'm leaving, ok?

"Alright, good night, Taylor."

After hearing the door close, Sheldon asked her straight away, without thinking.

"Amy, why was he still in the lab? Were the two of you alone?"

"He's helping me with the research, Sheldon! It was really kind of him to stay after his work hours to give me a hand!"

"Give you a hand? Do you hear yourself, woman?" Sheldon blushed, he was getting really annoyed by the presence of her assistant.

"Sheldon! I thought you trusted me!" He saw a tear falling from her eye.

"Amy." He took a deep breath. "I do trust you. I don't trust that guy. You need to fire him!"

"I'm sorry, Sheldon, but I can't deal with your jealousy right now. I'm in the middle of a big project, with a tight deadline, and I'm not firing my assistant just to make you feel comfortable! I need him, and I am the one to decide whether he stays or not!"

"Oh! Is that so? So why don't you stay with him if he's so good! And I'm not jealous!" With that he finished the call, without even waiting for her reply. _'Jealous! I'm not jealous! I'm just worried about her well-being! How could she think that!'_ He stormed to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

"Hey, Sheldon, what's the matter with you? Why didn't you show up for lunch?" Raj asked him, entering in his office.

"I'm not hungry."

"Did you and Amy had an argument?"

"Why do you think everything has to have something to do with Amy?"

"Dude, are you crying?"

"Oh, Raj, I'm the stupidest man in the planet!"

"What happened? Maybe I can help!"

"I sent her to his arms! I'm so stupid!" Sheldon started sobbing with his hands on his face.

Raj sat across from him, he never saw Sheldon crying so much!

"Sheldon, stop crying, tell me what happened."

After a while Sheldon controlled himself again and told Raj about Amy's assistant and the conversation they had in Skype.

"Dude, you have to go talk to her and apologize!"

"Yeah, I think you're right. I'm going there right now!"

"Right now? Are you sure? Maybe you should cool down a bit before going there..."

"I can't wait, Raj, Amy is probably really mad at me and I won't let that man take advantage of her vulnerability!"

As he finished his sentence he was already on his way to her lab. He walked so fast that when he approached the door he was sweating. He stopped for a while to clean his forehead with a tissue, when he heard Amy's voice.

"Yes, Taylor! You're great with your hands! Now go slowly, to the front and back!"

Sheldon didn't even bother to look through the door window and opened it in a quick movement, startling both Amy and Taylor.

"Oh no, I was too late! I knew it!"

"Sheldon! What the hell are you doing here? And who said you could enter in my lab like that!"

"But, Amy!"

"Oh no, Taylor! Did you cut your finger!"

"That was nothing, Dr. Fowler, it was just a small cut!"

"Let me take care of this!"

"But Amy! You're only allowed to take care of me! Relationship agreement, remember?"

Amy looked at Sheldon angrily. "Get out!"

"Amy!"

"I said, get out!" She pushed him out of her lab and closed the door. He turned to look through the window and saw Amy cleaning Taylor's cut. He felt really bad and decided to talk to her when she was calmer.

* * *

Raj was working in his office when he heard Sheldon knocking on his door.

"Come in, Sheldon."

He entered the room and closed the door behind him. Raj could tell just by his face that he was a mess.

"So, how did it go with Amy?"

"I... I don't want to talk about it."

"Why are you here, then?"

"Raj, are you familiar with the feeling of jealousy?"

"Of course, dude, as a romantic man I'm also a jealous kind of guy..."

"And when do you know you're feeling jealous?"

"Sheldon, you can answer that yourself, why are you so jealous of Amy's assistant?"

"I'm not jealous, I just don't want her near him."

"That's jealousy."

"Are you sure?"

"Dude, you're jealous."

"Drats!"

He stood up and left his office, not saying a thing. 'Good thing we never told him about Bert!' Raj thought.

* * *

Later that night, Sheldon tried to call Amy, but she didn't answer him. He tried to send her a message, but there was no return. He decided to sleep, but his REM cycle was clearly disrupted with thoughts of Amy.

"It's so unfair." He murmured to himself. Sheldon had never felt so hopeless before. _'How could she do that to me? I love her!'_ He turned to the other side. _'If only I could make her feel the same way, she would understand... Wait, that's it!'_

He immediately stood up and left his bedroom. He turned his computer on and started writing an email to her. Satisfied with the content, he sent it and returned to his bedroom. _'Two can play this game, Amy Farrah Fowler.'_

* * *

Next morning, Amy woke up early to get ready for work, as usual, and while she had breakfast she checked her emails, and found a message from Sheldon.

"Whaaaaaaat? An amendment? Is he out of his mind?"

She turned the computer off, stuffing the last bite of toast in her mouth. She quickly finish to get dressed, brushed her teeth, picked up her keys and her bag and left to work.

* * *

Sheldon arrived at work earlier and calmly opened his emails. He decided to reply to the requests of grad students who asked for his counseling in their papers. To keep up with his strategy, he just replied to the female ones. It didn't take long for him to achieve his objective: two of the students immediately replied to him, and he scheduled a time in that morning for the first one and one in the afternoon for the other. If he knew Amy well, she would show up in his office that day to complain about his email, so his plan might work.

It didn't take long for him to hear a knock on his door and a very angry Amy Farrah Fowler enter his office.

"Good morning, Amy"

"Good morning, Sheldon. Care to explain this?" She threw a printed copy of the amendment he suggested in his email on his table.

"Well, I assumed that as this is considered to be a regular behaviour, it should be included in our agreement."

"Sheldon, for the last time, there's nothing going on between me and Taylor! Now could you stop with that stupid jealousy?"

"Amy, Amy, Amy..." He shook his head, as he said her name. "Have you read the amendment carefully? I'm not including the possibility of having an affair in the agreement, I'm just mentioning that we are free to be close to individuals of the opposite sex at work without interference of the boyfriend or the girlfriend. Isn't it what you wanted?"

"But that's hardly something that needs to be in an agreement! We should be free to do that anytime! I'm a professional!"

"And so am I, it's just being stated so everything is clear for both parts!"

"All right, where do I sign this?"

"Here. Just let me pick up my notarizing stamp."

She signed the document and he did the same, notarizing it right after they finished.

They heard a knock on the door just in time.

"Oh, now, if you excuse me, I have an appointment with one of my students, Casey. Who, by the way, is a woman."

Amy opened up her mouth to speak when the door opened, and a tall woman with long blond hair and glasses entered the room. "Excuse me, Dr. Cooper, thank you very much for this appointment."

"Sure, come in, Casey. Dr. Fowler, if you excuse us."

Amy stared at Sheldon, with a hurt look on her face.

"Alright, I'm leaving."

He looked at her, trying to hold himself, but a bit of sadness trespassed.

"Goodbye, Amy. Please, Casey, take a sit."

After twenty minutes of hearing all those incoherent and useless ideas of his grad student, he wrote down a few books for her to study and told her to redo all of her work for a start, dismissing her as soon as he could.

"Wow, that was an awful idea! What was I thinking?"

* * *

"Dr. Fowler, are you ok?"

"Yes, Taylor, why?"

"You've been mixing this becker all morning, I'm pretty sure it's already well mixed."

"Oh, right!" She quickly placed it on the counter and moved back to her chair. She started to check her emails, and she saw Sheldon's email again and angrily selected it and pressed delete.

She decided she would go back there in the afternoon and talk to him.

Amy knocked on his door and entered in his office again.

"Sheldon, we need to talk-" That was when she saw another student propped on her elbows right beside him, showing something in a notebook, but what Amy really saw were the girl's boobs popping out of her shirt.

"How could you?" She quickly turned around and left. Sheldon was oblivious to the student's décolletage until he turned his head a little and realized what caused Amy's reaction.

"Miss Thompson, we finish this another day, please excuse me."

Sheldon ran after Amy, catching her almost near her lab.

"Amy!"

She turned to see him, and she had tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Amy, I didn't realize she was dressed in such a revealing outfit!"

"Tell me, Sheldon, since when you give counseling to grad students?"

"Since today. I wanted to make you feel jealous." He stared at his feet.

"Sheldon, this is so wrong! This is definitely not how we should try to solve our issues!"

"I just wanted you to feel the way I felt."

Suddenly Amy understood. The amendment was just a way that Sheldon found to open her eyes to the problem. She walked close to him and placed one hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry too, I didn't know I would make you uncomfortable with a male assistant... I should have told you that beforehand."

"And will you fire him now?"

"No! Sheldon! You will have to just accept that and trust me!"

"Okay... I do trust you, Amy, I think I might have overreacted..."

"Yes, you did! You just need to remember that I love you."

"You're right... I will remove that amendment, it was stupid."

He brought her closer to him, and looking to both sides to guarantee they were alone, he kissed her with all the passion he had. They kissed for a few minutes before an unwelcoming interruption.

"Dr. Fowler, the samples- Oh, sorry again, Dr. Cooper."

"Not now, Taylor, I need a moment alone with my boyfriend."

Sheldon smiled. That was all he wanted to hear.


End file.
